Kinect Sports

Congrats to Microsoft for a highly responsive and fun game. Gets the kids off the couch and up moving for hours. We got this game today and our 13 year old son played for three or four hours. He was so exhausted! And it is just as entertaining to watch...the real entertainment is not on the screen, lol!This has 6 games: beach volley ball, soccer, boxing, bowling, track and field, and ping pong. They were all very responsive to the movement of the person playing. There are several skill levels to choose from so you can choose: beginner, amateur, professional and I think something else. There are tips and tutorials throughout the game. And there is no need to get bored because you can challenge others in the room or on xbox live. There are also mini games/challenges and party mode. Have not tried those yet. It can be played as a single player or with others.For anyone hesitant about the Kinect...the games are a lot of fun and it is easy to calibrate (which I would NOT skip). Lighting is not a problem. Our set up is this: we have the projector set up to the xbox360 and it projects on the wall with surround sound. Because of the projector it is best to have a dim room. We actually have the lights OFF and it works GREAT. It actually suggests dimming the room a bit. I am really impressed with how the game is able to pick up the movements of the player even in darkness.I really think the key is to carefully go thru the calibration before doing each game. The game will remember your settings each time you use it. If you are still having problems, adjust the lighting and be sure that there are no people, pets, curtains, etc. fluttering nearby or behind the player or the movement will "hijack" your game. And it seems to have more difficulty recognizing movement with baggy clothing.This is simply fantastic for a family game. All can participate and burn some calories while having fun!Edit: 11/26/2010So far we have played Kinect Adventures, Dance Central, Kinect Sports. Since it is the holidays and we are all together, we literally play for hours at a time. The kids grew tired of Kinect Adventures quickly, but really their target audience appears to be much younger kids. My kids are Halo/Call of Duty/Assasin's Creed players. Kinect Sports really gets them going though. Maybe because we are playing as a family. I truly think most people will really enjoy the bowling.I had wondered about the motion detection and dimming of lights. When I was playing Dance Central the time of day was different and the lighting more to my left side (coming from the kitchen and dining room). The arm movements seemed to have difficulty registering. I played with the lighting, adding floor lights, turning lights on and off in various areas. Finally, I just turned them off completely and much better. Here is what I found about that...(regarding motion sensing)============================================================================================================================="It's made of two main parts: a projector and an IR VGA camera. The former bounces out a laser (don't worry, Microsoft insists it's safe) across the entire field of play, which the camera picks up to separate you from your sofa on what's called a `depth field.' It's essentially all the pixels that Kinect gets back as IR noise measured in varying colour dependant on how close they are to the system. That way bodies appear a bright shade of red, green etc, and things further away appear grey."=============================================================================================================================I noticed with sunlight reflecting from my arm that the motion controlled hand bounces everywhere and was impossible to control. Again, pulled the shades and good to go. If the system is using IR, it is no wonder. The dimmer the lights the less it has to sort out the background and can focus only on the body. Shimmering/flickering lights or other movements or very warm sources of light,objects, etc, may confuse the Kinect sensor. If you are one of the people having trouble with responsiveness to your motions, definitely try messing with the amount of light in your room. LESS light. Not more like I have seen some try. As I have said, our set up utilizes a projector and we do have some light in the room because it is a full wall image, so it is not pitch black, but there is very little light in the room. No overhead lighting at all. Hope this helps some who have had trouble with some of their games being a bit buggy.

I just got finished playing all of the sports in Kinect Sports and here is my evaluation:1. Track & Field: This area includes a variety of different activities that work well with the basic body movements the Kinect can control. These include running , jumping, and throwing things (javelins & discus). I think young and old would both have fun with this! This may actually be my favorite activity in this game.2. Bowling: Not as much control as Wi Sports bowling--but it is actually feels more like bowling when you can just stick your hand out to pick up the ball and then swing your arm to bowl. No controller to hold on to or push buttons. Once again this is an activity that would appeal to both young and old. Personally, I still like the bowling in Wii Sports better because of the more precise control.3. Boxing: I like this better than the Wii Sports Boxing--but there is still some lag time and I just don't get the feel that all my moves are translating accurately. Plus, like an earlier reveiwer indicated it seems like punching wildly is actually a winning approach in this game. I do like how you can just hold your arms up to block--this felt very natural. I'm waiting for the Kick Boxing version because when you kick your legs in this activity your avatar kicks its legs--but they don't seem to translate to "hits" in the game.4. Beach Volleyball: This one will take some time to master. It can get a bit confusing because there are several different techniques involved--jumping, hitting, and blocking. If you're tall--make sure you don't have a ceiling fan above you--or at least make sure it's not on!5. Table Tennis: Once again it was fun to play without a controller in my hand but I felt there were a few times when the intensity of my hits were not reflected in what actually happened on screen. For example, when an opportunity comes up for a "smash" the game announces it and then actually does it regardless of whether I swung harder or not.6. Soccer: Fun and interesting. You don't have to run around the field yourself. Your player magically appears where the ball is kicked to. Simple body movements control your kicks and blocks. Gray directional lines on the screen show the directionally options when kicking and your location when blocking.Throughout the games the Kinect takes photos and short videos of your movements. These are played at the end of each game. The images are saved so you can share them with others. This feature will appeal to some and not to others. For example, I find the images of my son interesting and humorous--but I need to find out how to erase the images of me!Adding a second player was extremely easy. If I wanted to join my son all I had to do was step in front of the TV and the Kinect added me to the in-play game. The graphics are also much better than the Wii! Kinect Sports looked great on a 40" HDTV. We don't even play the Wii on this TV because of how bad it looks.Bottom line: If you have an XBOX already--adding the Kinect and Kinect Sports really adds a nice dimension to your video game experience. If you have young kids or older folks that have trouble remembering what buttons to push on a remote--it doesn't get any easier than the Kinect.P.S. It is a neat and strange sensation to be standing in front of your TV and the avatar on the screen is doing the same movements that you are. You can sway, move your arms and legs, and dance, and the avatar mimics it. This alone makes for good entertainment!